Elevator motor catches fire on North Side

Updated 6:36 pm, Sunday, August 26, 2012

A fire on an elevator motor caused the evacuation of a handful of employees working in twin office buildings on the North Side Sunday afternoon, Aug. 26, 2012.

A fire on an elevator motor caused the evacuation of a handful of employees working in twin office buildings on the North Side Sunday afternoon, Aug. 26, 2012.

Photo: Eva Ruth Moravec, San Antonio Express-News

Elevator motor catches fire on North Side

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A fire on an elevator motor caused the evacuation of a handful of employees working in twin office buildings on the North Side Sunday afternoon.

Around 3 p.m., two people inside the buildings in the 8600 block of North New Braunfels Avenue pulled on handles activating the building's fire alarm after smelling smoke, said Assistant Chief Oscar Gonzalez of the San Antonio Fire Department.

Several employees working in the Energy Plaza buildings, which are connected by a breezeway, were outside by the time SAFD crews arrived. Firefighters used two fire extinguishers to douse flames on the elevator shaft motor, which was on the seventh-floor.

No one was inside of the elevator at the time, Gonzalez said, and the owner told SAFD the elevator had recently been worked on.